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93 Yale L.J. 581 (1983-1984)
Technology, Democracy, and the Manipulation of Consent

handle is hein.journals/ylr93 and id is 601 raw text is: Book Review
Technology, Democracy, and the
Manipulation of Consent
When Government Speaks: Politics, Law, and Government Expression in
America. By Mark G. Yudof. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1983. Pp. xvi, 323. $28.50.
Technologies of Freedom. By Ithiel.de Sola Pool. Cambridge: Belknap /
Harvard Press, 1983. Pp. 299. $20.00.
Stephen L. Cartert
The critical problem for contemporary First Amendment theory is the
unequal access that wealth can buy. Through its guaranty of free expres-
sion, the First Amendment supposedly protects the right of each individ-
ual to communicate his or her ideas. But as the Supreme Court recognized
a few years ago, virtually every means of communicating ideas in today's
mass society requires the expenditure of money.' As we enter an age in
which all aspects of communication are dominated by privately owned
mass media in general and the modem electronic media in particular,2 the
difficulties grow more obvious and less tractable.
We live in a nation founded on the conceit that everyone ought to have
a say in policymaking. The final authority of government is supposed to
rest with the people. But that authority cannot be exercised-at least not
very well-unless people have available to them all the information they
t Assistant Professor of Law, Yale University. Enola G. Aird, who first opened my eyes to many
of these problems, provided helpful comments on an earlier version of this Review. Perhaps need-
lessly, I add that the analysis and conclusions represent only my own views.
1. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 19 (1976) (per curiam).
2. As I shall use the terms in this Review, mass media or communication media refers to all
available means, especially those privately owned, of distributing a message to a large number of
recipients. The term electronic media, although it has special reference to broadcasting and cable-
casting, refers generally to all electronic means of transmitting messages.

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